Looking out over Millstream National Park in the Pilbara region of Western Australia

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Lucie Bell

Go to the galleryMillstream Weed Management

Date palms are synonymous with the Middle East, but the tall distinctive trees have a long history plaguing one of Western Australia's national parks.

However, the weed's days at Millstream in the Pilbara region are numbered, with rangers from the Ngurrawanna community currently working to eradicate the last, juvenile trees.

The end of the 2013/14 financial year marked 12 months since the Yinjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation, Rangelands NRM and the WA Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) joined forces for this conservation project.

Senior ranger at Millstream, Neil Brougham, says the Ngurrawanna rangers' work is vital to the preservation of the park.

Ngurrawanna ranger, Kingsley, chainsaws a date palm growing in the Millstream National Park.

Lucie Bell

He says although weed management may not be everyone's cup of tea, he enjoys the work.

"It's good and it's good experience to be working out on country.

"We want to make it look good for the locals and tourists here at Millstream."

Kingsley finds it difficult to describe what it means to him to be able to work on country, but put simply it's everything.

"It's sort of like where the heart is, you know.

"Sometimes you go to other places and your heart is missing that specific place.

"When we're back on country, it's sort of like that good feeling that you belong there."

Shane Gallagher manages the ranger program for the Yinjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation.

He's hoping collaborations with land care groups and government agencies, such as DPaW, will lead to more work opportunities on country.

"Millstream is considered the heart of Yinjibarndi country.

"So this is hopefully a vehicle that can get them back out here, create employment and inspire the youth that are coming up through the schools that there are other work options out there.

"It's about trying to get them back in touch with their country, their culture and their heritage; what it means to be Yinjibarndi, what it means to be indigenous Australian and what it means to look after the country that looked after them for so many years."

Mr Gallagher says that he's seeing a real shift in thinking around the environmental management and conservation sector more broadly.

It's about trying to get them back in touch with their country, their culture and their heritage

Shane Gallagher, Yinjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation

He says more value is now being placed on indigenous land care programs and training.

"Indigenous Australians, before white settlement, were really on top of land management, with their controlled burning measures and stock management for native food sources.

"Unfortunately, because... they didn't have clothes, or the wheel, no-one believed that the indigenous people of Australia had such strong environmental management.

"To see the interest now starting to come from environmental groups across Australia in traditional owners' environmental management and how they can reintegrate that, is very important."

Mr Gallagher says the corporation is looking forward to working with any interested parties to ensure more work on country.

"If we can have indigenous rangers working with whoever is interested in these sorts of things, that's got to be a win for everybody."

Palms' history at Millstream dates back decades

According to Millstream's senior ranger Neil Brougham, the park has had a long standing problem with date palms.

He says the conditions at Millstream are perfect for the trees, due to the underlying water table being so close to the ground's surface.

"Date palms were a really serious issue in the 80s and 90s.

"After a couple of large bushfires... DPaW removed, by some estimates, up to 100,000 plants from along the Fortescue River."

At the time, many of those culled trees were sent south and many Millstream date palms were used for landscaping in Perth.

It's believed the palms were originally brought to the Pilbara by traders.

"There's a few versions of how they arrived, but the one you hear most commonly is they were planted by Afghani camel herders."

Mr Brougham says much of the country the rangers have covered in recent weeks has been very thick with scrub.

"A few weeks ago it would have taken half an hour to an hour just to walk 100 metres, looking for date palms.

"I know how hard they're working and it's definitely appreciated by DPaW."

Ngurrawanna rangers and senior ranger Neil at Millstream National Park in the Pilbara region of WA